An assortment of all things interesting (and possibly useless) in the legal profession

Friday, April 24, 2009

Broken Hearts

Law.com reports an interesting story about the potential "legal cost" of breaking someone's heart:

[Kris Shubert] sued former boyfriend Kurt Wiksten [for more than $ 1 million] in Palm Beach Circuit Court, claiming her decision to quit her job, sell her home and move to Texas to be with him was based on lies and left her with a personal financial mess.

Shubert claims that her boyfriend had a "duty to . . . disclose any negative aspects of his past [including tax liens and a bench warrant for failing to appear on a drunken driving charge] before she enter[ed] into a personal relationship with him."

Ouch. Make sure to disclose all (potentially) material elements of your past before getting into a serious relationship.

Many years ago, there was an interesting case in New York State: Koslowski vs Koslowski. Even though both parties in the case had the same last name that had not been legally married. Very similar to the "palimony" cases, and there is a lot to be said for breaking verbal promises.